


My Way Home is Through You

by Mayamali



Series: The Punk Rock AU [1]
Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Bullying, F/M, Fluff, M/M, Marijuana, Medicinal Drug Use, Mentions of Cancer, Minor mention of transphobia, Minor mentions of homophobia, Multi, Punk Rock AU, junkrat has bipolar nos, maybe some angst idk, roadhog has ied
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-04
Updated: 2017-07-12
Packaged: 2018-08-12 21:35:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 19,313
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7949968
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mayamali/pseuds/Mayamali
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mako's a new transfer student with a lot of issues under his belt. When one of his friends makes him listen to her friend's punk band, life starts to suck just a little less.</p><p>(summary + tags and whatnot subject to change)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Because we don't have enough high school AUs, am I right?
> 
> I'm just kind of flying by the seat of my pants here, not going to lie. But this kind of plays on the fact that I for sure had a crush on band frontmen when I was in school.

Mako Rutledge wasn't even aware that the plastic fork he'd been gripping in his fist had broken until Lena was shaking him.

“Mako! You're bleeding!”

He came back to the world with a deep breath, blinking at the painful heat blossoming from between his fingers. Sure enough, he looked down, and the fork had shattered under his grip. Plastic was embedded in his palm, dripping blood onto the table.

“Here -” Lena's hands were on him suddenly, pressing napkins against the wound. His mind caught up with his body all at once, and he hissed, sliding away from the table as best as he could. “Come on, love, let's get you to the nurse.”

He didn't even remember what he'd been thinking about. Just that the noise of the cafeteria around him had pooled in his ears, become watery and faint, and it had pissed him off. He couldn't remember what, exactly, had made him so angry, but it had, and now there were shards of fork pressing into his hand.

The nurse pulled out the shards carefully but quickly, accompanied by his quiet hisses of pain each time she pressed disinfectant on the numerous cuts peppering his skin.

The bell rang somewhere in the hallway, and with it came the muffled sound of students shuffling back to their lockers like cattle. His lip twitched downwards as the nurse started wrapping his hand in gauze. “Alright, you're all set. Try to be more careful, okay, sweetie?” Mako grunted and stood up, readjusting his pants before heading back out in the world.

Zarya and Lena were waiting for him; Lena was clutching something, but it went off to the wayside in exchange for some fussing.

He waved off her concerns in pursuit of curiosity. “What's that?”

Lena blinked, then looked down at the paper in her hand. Zarya shook her head. “Oh, it's just a flier for a friend's band.”

“Jamie's first gig!” Lena exclaimed, lifting up the flier so Mako could see. It was illustrated in a very intriguing but sharp and amateur design with the name '5th of November'. The prominent design was a smiley face with one crossed-out eye. It gave him some serious teenage angst punk rock vibes. “He asked me to help hang some of these up after school. I think you'd like them, Mako.”

“I'm not really into punk,” Mako said. Some upperclassmen walked by and started to whisper, staring and pointing at his bandaged hand. He casually shoved it in his pocket and pretended not to notice.

“Oh, come on! I'll send you some songs – just give them a listen?” Lena was giving him that look that he couldn't quite say 'no' to, damn him. He grunted noncommittally and started shuffling off to his locker.

His next class was just English, nothing too exciting. He spent most of it doodling, except the moment his phone buzzed quietly in his pocket. It was a text from Lena – no surprise, since she was the only person who ever actually texted him. Sound files with such memorable titles like 'idk what 2 call this et' and 'cover #318008' and 'that once song by that one band'.

He rolled his eyes, hit 'download', and slipped his phone back into his pocket.

His last class of the day crawled by – Chemistry. No matter how much he studied for this class, it all went over his head. Thankfully, Zarya was his lab partner and was patient enough to make sure he could at least start to understand it.

Some idiot in the front row kept cackling when he kept mixing chemicals to make them explode. He was sent to the hallway three different times. Mako rolled his eyes and looked back down at his own worksheet.

He left Lena to her project of hanging up fliers and went through the motions: get on the bus, ignore the laughing, sit in the back, and put in his ear buds. He was about to go back to the same 80s rock album he always went to, but stopped, looking at the downloads file. His thumb hovered over the 'play' button before he scoffed to himself and pressed it.

And that was the moment Mako Rutledge fell in love.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shameless plug: [this is Cover #318008.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITIPYRcKbKI)

Okay, to be fair, the first song sucked. It was a bunch of screechy yelling about things exploding and the system being unfair, blah blah blah. He sat through it, waiting to see if it'd get better, but it was just three minutes of noise.

It was the second song that got to him. 'Cover #318008' – he only realized later that it was supposed to say 'boobie' when he pulled his phone out upside-down to see what song it was. It was... softer. Gentler. He could actually hear words through the thick accent of the lead singer, and despite the 'recorded in my mom's garage' quality, something about it raised bumps on his arms and made his heart beat funny.

He Googled the lyrics the second he got home. 'Summertime'. He made sure to add it to his favorite videos.

He listened to the third song while laying on his bed and staring at his History homework. It was an okay song, something about the pressures of society or whatever. He went back to the cover and played it on loop.

His Skype bleeped at him from his laptop that sat forgotten in front of him as he watched TV. He turned away from Adult Swim to read the message.

cheersxoxo: hey!!  
fullhog: hey  
cheersxoxo: did you listen to those songs yet?? :)  
fullhog: yeah  
cheersxoxo: so!! what did you think??

Mako had to pause for a moment. He started writing “I liked the cover”, then deleted it and instead wrote:

fullhog: its ok  
cheersxoxo: just 'ok'?? :P  
cheersxoxo: did you want to go to his concert? you could meet him :o

His breathing got funny again. Mako leaned away from the computer, pressing hands together in thought. On the one hand, that would require him cleaning up and being out with people who would either laugh at him behind his back or spread more rumors.

On the other, he could meet whoever was behind the microphone, who sang about running away with him so genuinely. No, not him. He had to remind himself it was just a song someone else had wrote. It wasn't about him.

Finally, he replied.

fullhog: sure  
cheersxoxo: yay!! \o/

He was sure he was going to regret this.

* * *

The concert was Friday night. He had a full three days to change his mind, and countless times he almost did. He wrote out the message telling Lena 'never mind', hovered over the send button, and then scowled and shoved his phone back in his pocket.

The fliers were on every bathroom door and bulletin board, mocking him. “'5th of November' is a stupid name,” he said at one point, heading for the school doors with Zarya in tow. “What's it even mean?”

“It's a history pun. Jamie's last name is Fawkes. Like Guy Fawkes? 'Remember, remember' –”

Mako snorted. “'The fifth of November'.” He paused, lifting up the hood of his sweatshirt. “Still a stupid name.”

The night of the concert, he almost sent the text again as he stared himself down in the bathroom mirror. The sight made him want to punch something. He clenched his fingers into the counter until it passed. Instead, he zipped up his hoodie and started to reach for his rings before stopping. He liked wearing these - giant rings that took up his whole fist, with the word 'Left' engraved in the metal. Something about the impression they made when he punched something with them gave him an odd sense of satisfaction. He idly remembered promising his therapist that he'd ditch them.

He shook his head and grabbed them anyway, slipping them onto his left hand.

The concert was actually in the gym of the high school. Some kind of promotion of the artistic prowess of the school's students or some bullshit like that. He arrived on his motorcycle and made sure to park it where no one could see it was his. The last thing he needed was someone to wreck it as a joke after he saved up for so long.

Lena waited for him at the entrance and wrapped her arm around his with a smile. “Thanks for coming, Mako. I know this's weird for you, but I think getting out a little more will help.”

He just grumbled. He got enough of that 'getting out more' talk from his therapist. Like hell he was going to say that to Lena's face, though. She deserved some tact.

He was pleasantly surprised to find that people didn't really pay him any attention. Sure, there were some pointed stares and whispers and laughter but Lena kept talking to him, distracting him. He felt... fine, for once.

The band was on the stage, doing mic checks. Mako only recognized the drummer, an Asian girl that spent all of her lunch period playing mobile games and bragging about having the highest scores. She popped a huge bubble from her gum as she set up.

Lena suddenly started cheering at his side, alongside most of the gym. Someone new had just walked on stage with a bottle of water and a bit of a hobble. Mako instantly recognized him as he took the mic and let forth a massive whoop of excitement.

It was the asshole from Chemistry that kept annoying him and getting sent out in the hallway for making things explode.


	3. Chapter 3

Jamison Fawkes was by no means 'pretty'. He had some kind of weird reverse mohawk thing going where entire strips of hair from his temples down to his neck were buzzed down and the tips of his hair were dyed orange and Mako could tell he was wearing eyeliner, but it was already streaking and smearing.

Mako expected more chains and spikes, though. No, Jamie seemed more utilitarian-punk – a long-sleeved, olive drab shirt with the right sleeve tied off below his elbow and jeans that had been torn to hell and big heavy boots. Correction, he noted; _one_ big, heavy boot. Because Mako couldn't have missed the peg that made up his right leg and the lack of an arm past the knot in his sleeve.

His smile was crooked, unhinged, just like the look in his eyes as he riled up the crowd before starting to sing. His voice wasn't the most pleasant thing. He could carry a tune, certainly, but his voice cracked and swung low and then high again and it was bizarre and discordant.

Mako stood in the audience, just watching, a pedestal in the middle of a wave of teenagers too giddy on loud music and being out past nine o'clock at night. People bounced off of him like he was a wall and didn't care. He'd probably be covered in bruises after tonight. Even Lena, the least anti-authority girl he knew that always thanked police officers and crossing guards and dreamed of being in the Air Force, was getting into the spirit, head-banging and cheering as Mako plucked out something about burning something down and never being chained to the system or whatever.

Quite frankly, he tuned it out. It was the typical anti-establishment punk fare that he didn't quite care for. As the night went on, he gravitated to the side of the room to get a drink and watched from there. There was a pretty nice song somewhere towards the end of the show, some spiel about teenage apathy or whatever. Slightly pretentious, but charming enough that he didn't entirely hate it.

He couldn't help but feel disappointed when the concert came to an end, though. Apparently that cover he liked wasn't on the song list.

Lena bounced up to him as the crowd started to clear out and grabbed his arm. “Hey! So what'd you think?”

Mako shrugged. “He looks like a weirdo.”

“To be fair, he is kind of a weirdo.” Lena giggled, then looked around conspiratorially before leaning in. “Want to meet him?”

Mako raised an eyebrow. “What?”

“They don't mind if people sneak back to say hi after a show. I was going to congratulate him on a good turn-out. Want to meet him?” she repeated.

Mako's fingers clenched into fists in his pockets as he looked around. Everyone was piling out through the doors to the gym, not a care in the world. But before he could answer, she was tugging on his arm. “Come on! They won't mind.”

His feet followed despite his mind still weighing the pros and cons, and before he knew it, they were heading to the hallway behind the stage. He ran his thumb over his rings to steady himself.

The drummer waved at Lena with a smile, and she took a small detour to hug her. “Hana, nice job tonight! It was great.”

“Thanks, girl. Jamie really pushed us on timing. Figures he's a stickler for that.” Hana rolled her eyes before looking past Lena with a raised eyebrow. “Who's that?”

“Oh – this is Mako, he just transferred in a few weeks ago.” Lena reached back to pull him forward; he dropped his eyes to the floor, rubbing the back of his neck.

Hana nodded, blowing another bubble with gum. He hadn't even seen her spit out the gum she'd been chewing before the show started. “Hey.” He just nodded back.

“Where's Jamie?” Hana looked back and pointed lazily to the end of the hallway. Sure enough, there he was, wrestling out of his shirt and into a black tanktop. Mako was surprised to see him attaching a heavy-looking prosthetic arm as they approached. “Jamie! That was awesome!”

Jamison turned and stared for a moment, as if he wasn't quite sure they were actually there, before breaking out in to a huge grin. Mako felt himself get a little hot. “'Ey, dove!” he said; now that he was speaking normally, Mako could finally make out that ridiculous accent as Australian. “Thanks for comin' – and you brought a date, hel-lo.”

Lena giggled, nudging Mako with her shoulder. “Oh, this is Mako. I just got him listening to your music.”

“Yeah?” Jamie eyed him up and down, hands on his hips as he leaned forward slightly, eyebrows raised in an expression that kind of made Mako want to punch him in how smug it was. He examined Mako for a second before snorting. “Probably think it sucks, don't ya?”

“Most of it, anyway,” Mako said dryly. Jamie hooted in laughter at that before Lena could jump in defensively.

“Hah! 'Least you're honest.” He leaned back to reach into his bag and wrestle a wipe from it, streaking eyeliner across his face until it was gone. “Most of it's for show. Love hearin' the PTA argue about freedom of expression and whether or not I'm a 'bad influence'.” He hooked his fingers in air quotes.

“Just because you _can_ be controversial, Jamie...” Lena started.

“Doesn't mean I _should_ , I know, _mum_ ,” Jamie interrupted, rolling his eyes. They were a weird amber color, kind of smolder-y. “Anyway, Luci was gonna take the band to IHop to celebrate. Wanna come?”

“Sure!” Lena said, shoulders relaxing with a giggle. She looked up at Mako expectantly.

He felt his skin heat up again at her stare. He gave Jamie another glance; he seemed intrigued by what Mako would say, too, which only made him more anxious. He felt anger bubbling up in his chest and gripped his hand so hard he felt the rings dig into his palm. “...I'll pass.”

“You sure?” Lena frowned, but Jamie stepped in with a wave of his hand, bag slung over his shoulder.

“Sure the last thing this big guy needs is a couple'a freaks and weirdos takin' up his Friday night.” Jamie shot him a wink and slid next to Lena, offering his arm. “Nice to meet you, Margot -”

“Mako.”

“Right, whatever.” Jamie shrugged, still holding his arm out. Lena gave Mako one last glance before laughing and shoving Jamie away.

“Alright. I'll see you on Monday!” She waved and started for the doors back to the gym. Mako watched after her until she was gone and the hallway was empty. With a grunt, he slammed his fist against the locker, leaving a small dent and a stinging in his knuckles. It helped.

He took a few seconds to steady his breathing before straightening his back and leaving.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some mild bullying, violence, and lots of mentions of therapy, especially medication, in this one.
> 
> Bublik - a Russian bagel-like bread roll and also a term of endearment (?)

The rest of the weekend was business as usual. On Saturday, sleep in until noon, make breakfast for lunch (turkey bacon and toad in a hole), dick around on the internet until therapy. Sit for two hours while talking about how he broke a fork during lunch and practicing breathing exercises and discussing possible medications. Refuse medication. Go home. Eat dinner. Dick around on the internet some more.

Sunday, study. Smashed avocado on toast for breakfast. Ignore his mom complaining how inconvenient it is that he won't eat pork for the millionth time. Work on his bike for a few hours. Take a drive. Go home, try to study, watch TV instead. Race to get homework done before bed.

He managed to get through without thinking of that song or Jamie's eyes or the minor annoyance that crept through his skull at the thought of him. Normal annoyance was fine, he let it slip.

“What song is that?” Zarya asked once he'd grabbed his books from his locker on Monday. They shared History as their first class in the morning, so she always waited for him so they could walk together.

“What?”

“You were humming.”

Oh, hell, he had been, hadn't he? He cleared his throat, shrugging to cover up the embarrassment. “Just one of the songs from that concert. Can't get it out of my head.” It wasn't a complete lie, at least.

“Ah, I hate that,” Zarya replied with a sympathetic nod of her head.

At lunch, he actually saw Jamie for the first time, standing in the lunch line with a girl that he recognized as the bassist of the band. He was laughing raucously, much to the visible annoyance to everyone around him. He was wearing a jean jacket covered in all kinds of pins and patches and the band logo painted on the back.

His attention was brought back to his table as Lena slid something over to him before resting her chin in her hands, smiling brightly. Oh no. He looked down – it was a napkin, folded over and torn. “What's this?”

“Open it!”

He carefully picked it up, giving Lena a suspicious glance. “You know I hate surprises.” She just giggled as he started unfolding the napkin. Something was written in it. His heart sank.

Scribbled on the napkin multiple times in a pen that seemed to die halfway through was a phone number. “You're fucking kidding me.”

Zarya glanced over and choked on her carton of milk, stifling her laughter through a hand clapped over her mouth.

“No joke, love!”

“From...” He glanced back up. Jamie had left the line by now and was sitting at a table, trying to act like he wasn't looking at Mako and failing miserably.

“He pre-gamed IHop and wouldn't stop talking about you. Said you were his type.” Lena inched forward, waiting to see his reaction.

Mako's heart stopped for just a second. He stared at the napkin before shoving it away and standing, leaving his tray where it sat and stalking out of the cafeteria without another word.

Students who were making their way to class early or back to the cafeteria from getting food off-campus jumped out of his way. He faintly heard someone behind him yell, “Make way! Human wrecking ball coming through!”, followed by a chorus of laughter.

 

He couldn't quite remember what happened after that, just that his knuckles burned and bled and his rings had been confiscated.

 

His phone buzzed. He ignored it as he sat in the back seat of his mother's car. He remembered a time when she would have cussed him out, asked him what on earth he was thinking.

She'd stopped doing that since the episode where he'd smashed the bathroom mirrors at his last school. Now, she was silent, occasionally glancing at him in the rear-view mirror with a frown.

They pulled up to the house and he got out without a single word, heading straight to his room. He wouldn't have to worry about homework for a while, anyway. In the meantime, he turned off the lights, drew the black-out shades, and buried himself under covers. He always got a migraine whenever he had an episode.

He must have slept for a good few hours, because he was woken up by his mother knocking on the door to ask if he wanted pizza for dinner. He nodded slowly under the blankets. The door closed again, and he sighed, sitting up to grab his phone.

Missed texts and two missed calls. Mostly from Lena, a couple from Zarya. With a deep breath, he scrolled through the texts.

 

' _sorry for putting you on the spot there love! ice cream after school? i'll pay <3_'

' _mako?? they said you got suspended are you ok? :(_ '

' _Please call me - Z_ '

' _i'm sorry. i thought you'd be flattered. reply please?_ ''

 

He deleted the messages and went into his voicemail. Lena's voice came through first.

“Hi, Mako? I know you're probably ignoring me. I don't blame you. I'm really sorry about lunch. Can you please call me?”

It made him angry, how guilty and sad she sounded. It was wrong. He squeezed his eyes shut and took some deep breaths before moving onto the next message.

“ _B_ _ublik_. Everyone is worried about you... Are you alright? Come on Skype later if you want to talk.”

Zarya. The only person in the world he would let call him by a pet name and get away with it – aside from his mother, anyway. He sighed and hung up, looking at his laptop as conflict whirled in him. It might be nice to actually talk to them, but at the same time, they'd want an explanation, and he didn't have one.

His mom knocked on the door again before opening it a crack. “Pizza's here.”

“Thanks.” He shoved off the covers and headed for the stairs. Eating might help him decide.

She'd ordered his favorite – barbecue chicken with veggies and extra pineapple. He took a few slices and sat down at the dinner table.

“I'm not going to ground you,” his mother said after a moment. He looked up mid-chew in surprise. “However. I called your therapist. He wants you to come in first thing tomorrow morning.”

Mako grumbled quietly, but apparently it was just loud enough for her to hear because she snapped, “This isn't a request, Mako.” She sank back in her chair – not relaxed, because his mother never relaxed – as he stopped eating to listen. “This is serious. As much of an idiot as that child was, you hurt him badly. You're lucky his parents aren't pressing charges.”

He reached for a paper napkin to wipe his face and lowered his eyes. “I'm sorry.”

“It isn't me you should be apologizing to.” There was another long silence. “You can work on your bike, but you aren't going anywhere unless I know exactly where, with who, and how long. ...I think you should seriously consider the medicine.”

“I don't need it.” He knew the words were futile, but instead of anger, his mother laughed.

“I know, Mako. You're proud, stubborn. You get that from me. But I got a bonus this month. We can afford it.”

He snapped his head back up to stare at her, eyes widening slightly. “Mom -”

“No 'buts',” she said firmly. “At least consider it. Now finish eating. Clean up when you're done.”

“Yes, Mom.”

She stood and leaned over to kiss the side of his head before heading back into the living room, leaving Mako with pizza and a million thoughts running through his head.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Someone asked me this so I thought I'd clarify. IED = [Intermittent Explosive Disorder](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intermittent_explosive_disorder). Basically a disorder where the person displays large outbursts of rage, sometimes escalating to verbal or physical aggression.
> 
> WITH THAT BEING SAID, this chapter has a lot of explicit medication talk and some fucking fluff for once!

Mako rolled the pill bottle between his fingers. He'd had them for less than five minutes and was already contemplating flushing them down the toilet.

He didn't hate taking medication. His mother was right; he was just too proud. He sighed and lowered the bottle as there was a knock on his door. “Mako! You have some visitors!”

Visitors? Mako furrowed his brows for a moment and stood, shoving the pills into his pocket as an afterthought.

“Surprise!” Lena said, waving her hands excitedly as Mako came down the stairs, stopping at the sudden exclamation. She giggled and rocked back on her heels, wrapping her arm around Zarya, who smiled at him.

“Hey, guys,” he said cautiously, leaning against the stair railing.

“We just wanted to see how you were doing,” Zarya said, pulling away from Lena to spread her arms for a hug. He hesitantly reciprocated. “And also see if you were up for going out for some ice cream or something.”

“I promised!” Lena said cheerfully.

Mako looked over to his mother, who nodded her approval. “Um... sure.”

Zarya patted him on the shoulder with a grin. “Great. Get dressed and let's go. We're buying. Oh – by the way,” she added, a little more serious, “we're meeting Jamie and Hana there, too. They might be bringing Lucio.”

Mako frowned slightly. The opportunity for re-socializing was sure as hell throwing itself at him now. “Uh.”

“You don't have to stay,” Lena offered immediately. “I mean, if you want to leave I can give you a ride back any time.”

“It's fine,” he said automatically, regretting it the second the words left his mouth. “Let me just get dressed.”

By which he meant 'change his shorts and grab his hoodie'. Mako definitely had a set style and stuck with it. He heard the pills rattling in his pocket and hesitated before picking them up again. After a long minute, he sighed, unscrewed the cap, poured out the dose, and popped the pills into his mouth before setting the bottle down and heading out the door.

It was a little local ice cream shop, overpriced but definitely worth it. Despite Lena's insistence that he get whatever he want, he just settled for a bowl of cookie dough ice cream.

Jamie was actually wearing different clothes this time – green tennis shorts and a simple white crop top that said 'YOU ALL KNOW ABOUT MY NIPPLES'. A pair of rainbow circle sunglasses sat on his head. Mako raised an eyebrow as they sat down at the table, but Jamie ignored the scrutiny in exchange for flashing him a crooked smile.

“'Ey, there he is! Must have a pretty good memory since ya left real quick without takin' this.” Jamie tried to toss a napkin at Mako. It fluttered in the air and flopped to the table anticlimactically.

Mako took the napkin. It was the one with Jamie's phone number on it. Lena leaned over the table to shove him in the shoulder. “Not now, Jamie!”

“S'fine,” Mako muttered, shoving the napkin in his pocket. The gleam Jamie got in his eye made him regret doing that.

“Anyhoo! Heard you got booted from school for a bit for punchin' someone's teeth in.” He laughed at that. “People are saying the guy has the word 'left' stuck in his cheek now!”

A guy Mako hadn't noticed before snorted, not even looking up from his notebook. “Tact, Jamie. We've talked about this.”

“Tact is for people who _don't_ have their own band.” The smugness in Jamie's voice vaguely made Mako want to punch him. Not too hard, just a little.

“Whatever, Jamie,” Hana said with a roll of her eyes, dropping her phone for a minute to take a sip of her smoothie.

“We haven't met, have we?” said the guy at Jamie's side, standing to lean over and hold out his hand towards Mako. “I'm Lucio. I'm this guy's sound mixer.”

Mako took his hand. It was dwarfed by his. “Yeah, you have that radio thing too, right?”

Lucio sat back down with a bounce and a proud grin. “Yep, that's me. Anyway, you need any help getting your homework or whatever?”

Mako opened his mouth to answer, but Lena interrupted with a gasp. “Oh! That's right, I forgot I have your homework for today in the trunk. Might as well make sure you can catch up!”

“Probably not missing much.” Jamie scoffed and took a lick of his ice cream cone. He had a really long tongue. It was kind of freakish, really.

“Better safe than sorry.”

Mako quietly took a bite of his ice cream, fully content to let everyone talk over each other. The noise was getting overwhelming, but it was better than being talked over, and the feeling went away the longer he sat and listened. The conversation drifted to what Lucio would be talking about on the show this week, how someone named Amelie had gotten in trouble for drawing nudity in Art class (apparently it was very tastefully done, but still nudity regardless), and how someone had tried to smear Angela Ziegler's name on a bathroom stall only to get roasted.

 

Eventually, he became incredibly aware that Jamie was staring at him. Not in a way that he could dismiss it as him zoning out, either, but in a very intent way. Mako looked back defiantly. Jamie raised an eyebrow and smirked. Mako furrowed his eyebrows.

Jamie winked at him with a click of his tongue against his teeth.

“What are you guys doing?”

“Shh! Staring contest,” Lucio whispered. Mako didn't dare look; the challenge had been issued and he had accepted. Jamie re-adjusted so he was kneeling on the bench. Mako dug his fingers into the table slightly. He heard a soft giggling from his right.

“Jamie always wins at these,” Hana said.

“He's never tried against Mako before,” Zarya countered. He took a moment to appreciate her being in his corner.

Jamie inched closer, clearly intent on putting their faces as close together as possible. Still, Mako didn't budge, maintaining his iron facade. Jamie lunged forward until the tips of their noses were practically touching, and the dead silence around them broke with ringing laughter as neither of them relented.

 

Mako took a deep breath to steady himself – then blinked as Jamie reached forward an extra inch to kiss his nose.

 

Everyone roared in disappointment as Jamie swung back with a triumphant smile, but it soon ended as he overshot his landing and fell backwards off the bench.

“Jamie, are you okay?” Lena asked through giggles she couldn't quite repress.

“Nope. I'm dead. That killed me. Bury me with me boots on,” came Jamie's voice from the ground. Not that Mako really paid attention. He was frozen, hands clinging to the table and desperately thankful no one was paying attention to the blush creeping over his cheeks.

“Drama queen,” Lucio chuckled, leaning down to help him up. “C'mon, upsy-daisy.”

Jamie climbed back up on the bench, running his hands through his hair to mess it up again, and grinned at Mako. “Should've warned ya I play dirty.”

“You think?” was all Mako could think of in reply.

Hana and Lucio left first, Hana citing a guild raiding event on some game and Lucio with homework. Then Zarya left, giving Mako a one-armed hug before heading off to write a paper. Lena stood up afterwards with a stretch. “I'm going to go throw these out and grab something to drink. Then I can take you home, okay?”

Mako nodded, and only realized that he and Jamie were alone when she turned to enter the ice cream shop.

There wasn't an awkward silence to be had. The second that Lena was out of earshot, Jamie was leaning forward. “Alright, mate. Comin' on too strong?”

“What?”

“The cafeteria biz. Did I weird you out? I'm a little Type-A sometimes, but I like what I like, y'know? And you, I, uh... definitely like, if you know what I mean.”

Mako held up his hand to stop him. “Slow down.” Jamie just drummed his fingers on the table in response. Mako ran a hand over his hair and frowned. “I, uh. It's a little weird, yeah. How do you know I'm even into guys?”

Jamie shrugged. “Nothin' ventured, nothin' gained. I don't care either way. But you look like you could crush my skull with one hand and that is...” He sucked in a deep breath, a smile spreading across his face. “Aces.”

“You have issues.”

“So do you.”

Mako grunted.

“Could write a song about you. Would that be weird?”

“Why would you want to write a song about me?”

Jamie shrugged again, picking at his nails idly. “I write songs about a lot of things. The weather. 'Fuck the system' shit.”

“Did you write those, though, or are they all covers?”

Jamie laughed. “Just the love songs. Love all that symbolic crap. Can't write it myself for shit. Like Summertime. Lena lend you that one?”

Mako's heart jumped a little bit. “Yeah.”

“Yeah? See, that's good. All proper teenage idealization shit. Run away, fuck everyone else, right? Love it.” He sighed and sang quietly, “ _You can run away with me anytime you want_.”

Blood rushed to Mako's face again. Hearing it live, right across from him, had a whole new meaning to him. Almost made Jamie's personality worth tolerating. His fingers twitched towards closing into fists, but he stopped them and just nodded instead.

“Hey!” Lena's voice came from behind him, and he was never happier to hear it. “Ready to go?”

Mako nodded and stood with some effort. “Oh hey, love, mind if I catch a ride with you?” Jamie piped in, standing up at the same time.

“Sure thing.” Lena nodded and led the two of them to her car. Jamie walked a little too closely to Mako. Part of him didn't really mind.

 


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for the amount of chat spam here, as well as Jamie's horrendous spelling.
> 
> Mentions of drug use and cancer in this one.

cheersxoxo: come on!  
fullhog: nope  
cheersxoxo: you two looked so cozy uwu plus he kissed you!  
fullhog: cause hes a cheater

Mako huffed, turning back to his TV. True, he couldn't stop thinking about how casually Jamie had just leaned in and pressed his lips against the tip of Mako's nose like they'd been dating for months when they barely knew each other.

cheersxoxo: he won't shut up about you lol  
fullhog: what?  
cheersxoxo: says he wants to write an 'epic bonnie & clyde adventure'  
fullhog: he knows they died right  
cheersxoxo: probably not :P

He was about to reply when he got another message. Curious, he clicked over to it. The user name was 'fawkeyeah', so there was only one guess who it was.

fawkeyeah: ey  
fullhog: what  
fawkeyeah: aweome wasnt sure i spled that righ

Mako blinked and wrinkled his nose. It took him a second to decipher the mess of text.

fullhog: you didnt spell a lot of things right  
fawkeyeah: haha yeah type to ofast

cheersxoxo: oh god he's messaging you, isn't he  
fullhog: yeah  
cheersxoxo: disengage before he does something stupid!! he's high right now o.o

Mako sighed and started to say goodbye, but Jamie was already going off.

fawkeyeah: so yeah sory for bein a wierd prick  
fawkeyeah: get to excited yknow  
fullhog: yeah  
fawkeyeah: leans probbaly tellin u to ignore me  
fawkeyeah: go ahead just waned to let u kno

And just like that, Jamie logged out. Weird. He shook his head and closed out of the chat box.

fullhog: nvm he logged off  
cheersxoxo: sorry u_u sometimes he does that  
cheersxoxo: he's harmless though!!  
cheersxoxo: just likes to act before thinking  
fullhog: im getting that  
fullhog: its ok he didnt do anything

He reached into his pocket and felt something. Jamie's phone number. He pulled it out and tossed it on his nightstand.

fullhog: he means it?  
cheersxoxo: that he's into you? Yeah  
cheersxoxo: he's never wishy-washy about these kinds of things lmao  
fullhog: didnt even remember my name  
cheersxoxo: that's not entirely his fault  
cheersxoxo: he refuses to take medication x.x  
cheersxoxo: i mean he gets on fine enough without it  
cheersxoxo: but it gets him in trouble sometimes because he can't remember things v well

Oh. Well now he felt a little bit like an asshole. Here he'd assumed that he just didn't care. But something about that felt very close to home with him. Probably the stubbornness.

cheersxoxo: anyway gotta head to bed!  
cheersxoxo: you'll be back in school on monday right?  
fullhog: yeah  
cheersxoxo: lmk if you want to hang out before then!  
fullhog: sure thing  
cheersxoxo: :)  
cheersxoxo: cheers love <3

With that, she signed off. Mako tossed his laptop aside onto the bed and headed downstairs to grab a slice of leftover pizza and a soda. When he came back, he noticed that Jamie was back online, but away. He paused, looking at the user name for a long moment while he took a bite of pizza.

Finally, he groaned, clicked on the name, and started typing.

fullhog: why dont you wear the fake arm on stage

He hit 'enter', then immediately face-palmed. Really? That's what he was going to go with? He slid the laptop away to keep eating, cringing at his lack of tact. A minute passed, then two, then five. After ten minutes, he was sure Jamie wasn't going to reply, and was just about to open the menu and shut down his laptop when Skype beeped at him.

fawkeyeah: sshit sorry mate  
fawkeyeah: was busy  
fawkeyeah: it feels coler w/o it  
fullhog: 'cooler'?  
fawkeyeah: ads to the imag yknow  
fullhog: i guess  
fawkeyeah: ur not gonna sk how i lost it  
fawkeyeah: ?  
fullhog: not my business  
fawkeyeah: could be ;)

Mako chuckled at that, a little wearily. Jamie was nothing if not persistent, it seemed.

fullhog: ok  
fullhog: howd you lose it  
fullhog: your leg too

There was a long pause before Jamie answered.

fawkeyeah: lost my amr trying to turn a bottle rocket into a nactual rocket lmao  
fawkeyeah: lost the leg from ostoesarcoma

He casually clicked out into his browser to search the term. For some reason, he wasn't surprised by the story of how he lost his arm. Google auto-corrected the second thing as “osteosarcoma”. Frankly, he was impressed a big word like that didn't have more typos. The smile left his face at the first hit he got in the search engine.

fullhog: you had cancer?  
fawkeyeah: it was a while aog  
fawkeyeah: remission baby  
fullhog: jesus  
fawkeyeah: dont go taking the lords name in vain mate

Mako blinked. Really? Jamie didn't seem the type to get offended over that kind of thing.

fullhog: sorry  
fawkeyeah: LMAO  
fawkeyeah: just fuckin w u mate  
fawkeyeah: dont rly care that much

Of course he was kidding. Mako slid a hand down his face again with a groan. He could hear Jamie's laughter in his head now.

fawkeyeah: nyway yeah  
fawkeyeah: thats it?  
fullhog: just curious  
fawkeyeah: i know im such an engima  
fawkeyeah: summertimes ur favorite aint it  
fawkeyeah: the song  
fawkeyeah: got as red as a cherrry tomato when i snag it for u lmao

Mako flushed again, rubbing the back of his neck. So Jamie had noticed that. Fuck.

fullhog: shut up  
fawkeyeah: LMAO  
fawkeyeah: didnt tak u fr a romatic  
fullhog: im not  
fullhog: just a guilty teenage pleasure i guess  
fawkeyeah: i kno all about those  
fullhog: gross  
fawkeyeah: ;)  
fawkeyeah: ok im hihg as shit and kno that was skeezy sry  
fawkeyeah: unles ur into that idk  
fullhog: no  
fawkeyeah: yeah i figured  
fawkeyeah: digresion  
fawkeyeah: they make u do that in english  
fawkeyeah: for debates n shit  
fullhog: yeah  
fullhog: someone gets off topic and you have to yell 'digression' or whatever  
fawkeyeah: yeah fuck that  
fawkeyeah: put ius on the fuckn spot gret for anxis bolkes  
fullhog: right

Mako leaned back as Jamie went on a tirade about teaching and how the school system was messed up and working against kids like him, and he couldn't help but smile. He wasn't preaching, either, just ranting. If he hated anything, it was preaching.

He didn't even realize it was 2 AM until he closed his eyes for a few seconds and opened them again to a spam of messages from Jamie.

fawkeyeah: sry went off fr a bit lol  
fawkeyeah: u still ther??  
fawkeyeah: oh u fuckn feel aslepep on me  
fawkeyeah: thats so cute  
fawkeyeah: i bet ur cudly  
fullhog: sorry  
fawkeyeah: LMAO  
fawkeyeah: yeah i shuld prob piss off  
fullhog: night  
fawkeyeah: night boo <3

Mako snorted, then quickly covered his mouth to hope his mom hadn't heard. He shut off the laptop and laid down to sleep, but not before he put Jamie in his contacts list.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> cw: transphobic slurs
> 
> fondly caresses Roadrat... then slAM DUNKS IT IN THE TRASH!!

Mako realized that he wasn't getting angry as easily anymore when someone oinked at him as he walked past in the cafeteria on his first day back and was able to suppress the urge to punch their face in. It was a weird feeling, being able to shut down that anger so much easier now.

There'd been a few jokes aimed at him about wrecking balls. Zarya had ushered him away from them quickly enough that he could ignore it. During lunch, Jamie texted him a link to a YouTube video. After school, he sat on the bus and listened to the video with a smile. Some kind of love song a la Bonnie and Clyde. He texted back ' _you know they died, right_?' and had the strangest sense of déjà vu.

Jamie just texted back a smiley face. Sometimes, Mako got a little concerned for him.

“You should definitely ask him out,” Lena said for the millionth time that night as they took a break from their Skype study session.

Mako groaned into the phone and changed the subject again. He really kind of wanted to. The instances of them staying up until two in the morning talking about absolutely nothing were becoming a daily occurrence. Despite Jamie's annoying traits – and he had many of them – something about him was charming.

But still something held him back. That it was too good to be true, perhaps. That Jamie was aggressively into him in a way that made him suspicious.

“Is it true you're dating Aleksandra?” someone asked him one day in the hallway. He blinked at them, eyebrows furrowed in confusion. “I just heard you guys were dating.”

Zarya got a good laugh out of that, clapping a hand on Mako's back. “It's news to me, _bublik_.” She winked at him.

And he didn't know what came over him, but he found himself asking, “Why _aren't_ we dating?” After all, it made sense. They got along well enough. Zarya grinned at him.

' _cool_ ,' was all that Jamie texted him the next day. He didn't message him much after that. Lena was surprised but ecstatic, gushing about what they should do for their first date and taking pictures for 'posterity'. It was nice; they held hands and hugged a lot more and their first kiss was on his front porch after a dinner-and-movie date, much to his mother's delight.

It was nice.

fawkeyeah: got a new gig at the park  
fawkeyeah: u wanna come?  
fullhog: sure  
fawkeyeah: cool  
fawkeyeah: free ntry for u n zar n whatnot

Mako asked Zarya, and she agreed. It was starting to get cold outside as fall started to fade into winter, and her pink hair was growing out and fading back to blonde. She had a thick scarf that she playfully wrapped around his shoulders so they could share it in the cold.

He noticed a news van settled on the outskirts of the park. “Oh yeah,” Hana said as she carried in her drum kit. “They're doing an expose on us. Jamie, especially. He's the loudest of everyone, y'know.”

Mako nodded, watching camera crews set up mics and cameras. “Weird they'd get all this out here though.”

“It's Jamie's first public show,” Zarya mused, squeezing his arm against her chest lightly. “Good choice for a new story. Come, _bublik_ , let's find a good spot.”

Despite the cold, Jamie wore a headband and was shirtless with a mock bandolier strapped to his chest up on the stage. His energy was incredible, but almost frantic. Mako frowned as he heard his voice get more and more frayed with each song.

They waited after the show a lot longer than they usually did. They knew it'd be some time before Jamie came out of the tent set up for the band because of the interview the news station would want, but this was getting uncomfortable. Eventually, yelling started to echo from the tent - “How 'bout you fuckin' _drongos_ learn to ask somethin' _original_ for a change! For fucks' sake!” - and Jamie stormed out not long after, tearing out earpieces and mics.

“Jamie -” Lena started after him.

“Not now!” He snarled in response, beelining for a cluster of trees past the stage. Mako wormed his way free of Zarya's grip, told them to wait in the car, and pursued.

He found Jamie sitting under a tree, lighting dead leaves on fire with a Zippo lighter. “Think they'd come up with original questions after a while,” Jamie grumbled after a minute. Mako sat down next to him.

“What happened?”

“Oh, nothin'. It was all fine and dandy 'til – ” Jamie stopped, giving Mako a sideways glance before sighing and shoving the lighter back in his pocket. “Okay. So I started 5th of November sophomore year, ok? We only really started getting noticed when I got Lucio on board 'cause he's like the town-fuckin'-darling or whatever. Anyway, before we started getting popular, I started datin' this girl. Charlie. Sweet as could be.”

Mako furrowed his eyebrows, but said nothing.

“I've never been popular. Too weird, too smelly, too loud – too everythin', pretty much. Got worse after I lost me arm. Charlie, though... she got it – got _me_. Fuckin' wankers didn't like that, started spreadin' rumors about her. Someone made a joke I was dick-exclusive, it spread, and someone yanked down her skirt in front of an assembly.” Jamie paused here, squinting as though debating whether he should continue. He took a deep breath.

“Some assholes just don't wanna believe 'er when she says she's a girl.“

Mako nodded slowly, the realization setting in.

“Just 'cause she had the wrong plumbing or whatever – I didn't care 'bout that. Everyone else did. But see, that's the worst of it. She got infamous, the talk of the town around here, but not 'cause of that. 'Cause of _me_. 'Cause the one-armed, one-legged leader of this anarchist punk band was the one datin' a 'trap'.”

Jamie spat the word like it was poison, shaking his head.

“We broke up a bit after that. Mutual decision, didn't want 'er dealin' with all that shit. She transferred out a few months later. But even fuckin' now people just won't shut the fuck up about it!” Jamie slumped against the tree, pounding a fist into the ground. “Like fuckin'. Show some damn respect, y'know?”

Mako hesitated. He wasn't really sure what to do here, so he just did whatever Zarya did whenever he felt his anger start to build up and couldn't talk himself down. He took off his hoodie and draped it over Jamie's shoulders. He promptly turned and buried himself into Mako's chest, curling up beside him.

“'You earned a bit of a reputation for bein' involved in a scandal involving a transsexual',” Jamie mocked under his breath, putting on his best announcer voice. “'Does that influence your attitude towards your audience at all?' Like fuck it does.”

“Sorry.” It was all he could think to say.

Jamie laughed softly and hesitantly pulled away, sitting up. “Thanks. Just gotta get it off my chest. C'mon. Don't want your girlfriend to break me over her knee.”

Mako snorted. “She will, too.”

They went to IHop afterwards, and soon enough Jamie was back to his normal self – aside from the three glasses of water he gulped down once his voice started getting scratchy.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry, baszle.
> 
> but also: FUCKING FINALLY RIGHT

Jamie's interview was the talk of the school for a long time. Plenty of people sympathized with him, but Mako caught a few assholes cracking jokes at Charlie's expense, whether Jamie topped or bottomed, or making fun of his outburst. He fought the urge to punch them in the teeth and almost lost. Some days were harder than others.

He was surprised that dating Zarya hadn't changed much between them aside from bolder displays of affection, like wrapping his arm around her or her arm around him or resting her head on his chest when they were laying on the couch watching TV.

“The winter formal is coming up,” she said idly, distracting Mako from the almost audible sound of his brain cells dying as he tried to comprehend Sharknado. “You should go with me.”

He shrugged. “Ok.”

It was awkward having to shoot down a text invitation from Jamie to come hang out and smoke some of his stash while putting on his suit, but Jamie just texted back: _'no hard feelings !_ ' and left it at that.

The formal was surprisingly fun. He couldn't dance very well, but sitting on the sidelines drinking punch and seeing everyone relaxed and letting loose was cathartic. Hana had worn a spunky, bright pink and blue dress that caught everyone's eye as she hooked her arm around Lucio's – 'friend-date', they'd explained to him. Lena did the same with a friend of hers Mako had only met in passing before, a rather shy-looking boy with glasses who introduced himself as Winston.

But Mako kept noticing Jamie wasn't there.

Text conversations with Jamie were getting shorter and less frequent as the months went on, and he was painfully aware of the fact. The cover of 'Summertime' came on shuffle one day during a library study session and everything he'd felt the first time he heard it came rushing back all at once, heart sinking down his chest and into his stomach.

For a long week, he was conflicted. Although dating Zarya was nice and he got goosebumps when their kisses drew longer and deeper, it just didn't feel the same anymore, not with this weird feeling settling deep inside of him. “I think we should break up,” he said hesitantly as they finished studying for a Chemistry test in her room one night.

Zarya looked up, watching him for a moment with no small amount of surprise, then huffed. “My muscles finally intimidate you too much?” she joked with a warm smile, laughing as he tried to come up with some kind of response. “It's okay.”

“I'm -”

“Don't apologize, _bublik_.” She leaned over to kiss him on the cheek, resting their foreheads together. “There's nothing to be sorry for. Still friends?”

Mako snorted. “Duh.” She punched him in the arm.

After one last hug, he got on his bike, then paused, staring down at his hands before pulling them away from the handles and reaching into his pocket for his phone.

' _hey you busy_ ' He hit 'send' and waited, holding his breath for a long moment. He stared at his phone eagerly. It felt as though each passing moment of silence was going to tear him apart.

His phone beeped, and he opened the message without hesitation. Jamie had replied with ' _nah._ _@ the underpass. come hang?_ '

He texted back: ' _ok_ '. It had snowed all day, and a light dusting of powdery snowflakes was still falling from the sky, so it was slow-going on his bike as he headed to the highway underpass.

It wasn't hard to find Jamie; Mako could smell the weed from a mile away. He coughed as he approached, leaving his bike parked underneath a tree and waving the air in front of him. “Hey.”

Jamie looked over and blew out of a cloud of smoke, patting the ground beside him. “Hey. Long time, no see.”

Mako snorted and took the invitation, hesitating as Jamie held a joint out towards him before accepting and letting Jamie light it with his Zippo. “It hasn't been that long.”

“Felt like forever, anyway.” Jamie shrugged and stared ahead. “Been busy?”

“Yeah.” Mako paused to take a pull from his joint, coughing again as the smoke burned his lungs. “I broke up with Zarya.”

“Yeah? Sucks.”

“Yeah.” They smoked in silence for a long time, and eventually he could feel himself starting to relax, leaning into the concrete wall behind him with a sigh. “I should've asked you out.”

“Yeah, y'should've.” Jamie sounded odd, almost berating, but Mako looked over and he shot him a playful wink. “I mean, nothing's stoppin' you now, is it?”

“Guess not.” But the words still wouldn't come. Mako took another pull. “Just not sure about the etiquette here.”

Jamie barked out a laugh at that, smashing out the butt of his depleted joint against the ground before rummaging around in his bag for another. “There ain't no fuckin' etiquette, mate. What'dya think we are, getting' married or somethin'?”

Mako chuckled at that. “True. Maybe I thought you're out of my league.”

“Pshh, fuck that. I ain't in no one's league.”

“Bullshit. Plus -”

“Yeah?” Jamie turned to him as he lit up another joint. Prescribed, he'd told Mako a long time ago, to deal with phantom pains. Didn't stop him from sharing.

“I dunno. People've just never looked at me like that before.”

“Fuck off. You're a catch and a half.”

As soon as Jamie pulled the joint from between his teeth to blow out smoke, Mako leaned in to press their mouths together. Jamie tasted smoke (unsurprisingly) and, oddly enough, orange Listerine. The angle was awkward and he couldn't hold it for long without getting a kink in his neck. Jamie didn't fight, instead just leaned into it and put his hand on Mako's head to hold him there and push back.

It was weird. Kissing Zarya had been... nice. Her lips had been soft, inviting, but with boundaries. Jamie's lips felt like they needed at least two layers of chapstick slathered on them. Not nice, per se, but... comfortable, with nothing stopping him from going further and almost daring him to.

“Mm, I've dreamed 'bout you doin' that,” Jamie muttered as they finally pulled apart. His eyes had closed, slowly opening against just enough to look at Mako with a smirk. “Dreamed about you doin' a lot of things.”

Mako's heart beat a little harder. That was a feeling he hadn't felt in a long time. “Gross.”

Jamie laughed so hard he snorted, which set Mako off into his own laughing fit. He had to stop and fish out his inhaler after a moment, passing his joint back to Jamie while he did. Once he'd taken a few minutes to let his breathing return to normal, he glanced at Jamie for a long moment before asking, cautiously, “Did you and Charlie ever...?”

“Fool around?” Jamie thoughtfully blew out smoke before handing back Mako's joint. “Yeah. Not the full shebang but pretty close to it. What about you? You get to see Zar all dressed down?”

Mako shook his head. The thought of seeing Zarya shirtless did make his breathing a little funny, though. Habits died hard.

“Bet she's got thighs that could crush a watermelon.” Jamie giggled at the thought, stretching out on the ground.

“Yeah.”

“Like damn, how does she do it?”

“Lots of time in the gym and protein shakes,” Mako informed him. He crushed the butt of his joint against the ground and declined the offer for another.

“Y'made a cute couple,” Jamie said sincerely, scratching his stomach through his shirt. “Could you give her piggyback rides?”

“Tried once. Couldn't fit through the doors.”

“That's the one thing I always figured as a con between you two datin'. You could give me piggyback rides. I'm light enough.”

Mako looked at him for a moment and sat up to take a knee, back facing Jamie. “Come on.” He glanced over his shoulder to see Jamie perk up and nodded. “Let's do it.”

Jamie whooped, dropping his still-lit joint on the ground to climb up on Mako's shoulders. His giggling did something to Mako's chest as he carried him around underneath the highway, his arms spread wide like a child pretending to fly.

They dismounted back where they had started, Jamie flopping on the ground beside him, still laughing. Mako joined him, grinning and swatting him on the arm before standing again. “C'mon. We should get home.”

“Lemme finish this first.”

Mako was sober enough to drive them home. Jamie's hands wrapped around his chest protectively, face pressed against his back, and it made him feel warm inside. He stopped outside of Jamie's house, a nice little place in the suburbs, and Jamie stood on the sidewalk for a moment before leaning forward with a familiar gleam in his eye. “So're you gonna ask me out or what?”

Mako rolled his eyes. “I just did.”

“No, you kissed me,” Jamie corrected him. “Which, granted, was pretty sweet, but doesn't equate to 'please go out with me', ya heifer.”

He huffed, shifting his weight on his bike to lean towards Jamie. “Fine. Wanna go out sometime?”

Jamie put a hand on his chin for a moment, as though contemplating. Mako was about to kick him when he finally nodded. “Okay.” He grinned slyly, bending over at the waist. “One last kiss for the night?”

Mako leaned forward to kiss him on the mouth. Jamie giggled again and shuffled backward so Mako could pull away from the curb, and didn't turn to go inside until he was down the street.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Jamie's parents! Also some implied homophobia at the end of this chapter.

Lena immediately caught onto something when Mako joined her and Winston in the library after class the next day. “Zarya told me you broke up?” she questioned.

“Yeah.” Mako slid into the seat next to her.

“Sorry,” Winston said a little awkwardly, looking between the two of them.

“We both thought it was the best thing to do.” Mako flipped a pencil between his fingers with very little success. “I asked Jamie out.”

Lena threw her hands in the air and yelled, “Finally!” The librarian immediately peeked his head around the corner to shush her, and she waved, sheepishly sitting back down. “Seriously, though!” she whispered when the librarian left.

“Congratulations?”

Lena giggled and nudged Winston's shoulder. The poor guy looked ridiculously confused. “I'll explain later – if you don't mind, Mako.”

He shook his head and grabbed the top book from the stack he'd brought with him. “We all good starting with English?”

The study session went on normally from there. Mako was just about as clueless as he was when he'd walked into the library, but he appreciated the normality.

A pair of hands reached from behind him to cover his eyes as he stood at his locker, and he tensed up, breaking away to turn and raise a hand defensively. “Whoawhoawhoa hey! It's me!” Jamie raised his hands in surrender, eyes wide. “Mercy! Uncle!”

Mako relaxed, instead reaching out to take Jamie's shoulders. “Can't sneak up on me like that.”

“Sorry, mate. Just wanted to check in on ya. See if you were doing anything tonight.”

Mako grunted. “No. I should study, though. This Chem test is going to kick my ass.”

Jamie perked up and wiggled expectantly. Mako just stared. Jamie spread out his hands. “Mate. I'm acin' that class! I can help you.”

“You spend most of that class making things explode.”

“Only after I finish the assignment!” He reached out to take Mako's wrists in his hands, turning on the puppy-dog eyes. “C'mon. Study-date.”

People were looking at them, he noticed out of the corner of his eye. Whispering. It set off warning bells in the back of his head. He narrowed his eyes and nodded at Jamie – anything just to get out of here right now. “Okay. Your house? Mine?”

“You can come over to my place.” Jamie beamed, patting his pockets frantically for his phone. “Lemme just clear it with the folks first.” He turned away to put the phone to his ear and have a somewhat loud conversation with whoever was on the other end. Mako, meanwhile, silently texted his mother to ask if it was alright to go to someone else's house tonight. She replied with an emoji of a thumbs up.

“Okay!” Jamie shove his phone back in his pocket and slid his arm around Mako's waist. “Time's -a wastin'. We're good, let's go!”

It felt funny having Jamie pressed into his side. Not a bad kind of funny, just... funny.

“Man, this thing's a beaut.” Jamie stood at a distance to admire Mako's bike as Mako unchained it. “She got a name?”

Mako grunted, looking away as he mumbled, “Ataahua.”

“Ataahua?” Jamie's accent muddied the word somewhat. “What's that?”

“It's Maori. It means 'beautiful'.” He straddled the bike and gestured for Jamie to sit behind him.

“Huh. Definitely fits.” Jamie climbed on, immediately resting his cheek on Mako's back. His fingers drummed playfully against his chest as Mako turned the ignition, backed out of the parking spot, and hit the road.

He remembered Jamie's house being pretty nice from the night before. It was a standard two-floor house, nice suburban area. Mako parked in the street after some insistence that it'd be okay.

“Mum! I'm home! Come meet Mako,” Jamie called out, tossing his jacket towards the coat racks and missing by a mile. Mako shoved his hands in his pockets, looking around; Jamie's house was pretty normal, which was actually pretty unsurprising. He figured all the anti-establishment punk gear was up in Jamie's room.

A woman came from the kitchen with a warm smile on her face as she dried her hands on a paper towel. “Oh! Come on in – take off your shoes, please.”

Mako obliged, even though it took a full two minutes to unlace his boots.

She disappeared for another second before approaching, hand outstretched. “Hi, I'm Nia.” Mako took her hand, trying hard to be gentle. She had a nice manicure, nails painted a light pink color. “Are you going to be staying for dinner?”

Mako looked at Jamie, then back to Nia. “If you don't mind.”

“Not at all.” Nia dropped her hand and slipped a hairtie from her wrist, tying back the long twists of her hair into a low ponytail that sat over her shoulder. “Jamie, go wash up. Your mom got held up at the office, she'll be home soon.”

“Right, mum.” Jamie nodded to the stairs, punching Mako's arm playfully. “C'mon.”

“She's your mom?”

“No, she's my _mum_.”

“But your mom's still at work.”

“No, my _ma_ is at work.” Jamie looked at him from the corner of his eye, eyebrow quirked as though daring him to say something about it.

Only then did it click, and Mako looked away with a cough. “Oh – two moms.” Jamie made a small sound in affirmation. “Sorry. Took me a second.”

Jamie giggled and stopped outside of a room with a simple sign on the outside of it. He flipped it over from 'PUSH OFF' to another dead-eyed smiley face and opened the door.

Jamie's room wasn't as horribly dirty as Mako thought it would be. Yeah, there were clothes and sheets and books thrown around haphazardly, but he could actually see the floor, which was a lot more than he'd expected.

Jamie closed the door behind them and flopped down on his bed, tossing his backpack next to him and spreading out his arms with a blissful sigh. “Uh - don't really got much in terms of seating, sorry,” he said after a second, propping himself up on his elbows. “Make a pile or come sit by me.”

Mako kicked around clothes until it made a suitable pile for him to sit on, dropping his bag to the ground with a sigh. “Get some studying done before dinner?”

“Sure.” Jamie bounced up, rifling through his bag to pull out his books.

Mako was surprised to find that Jamie was a pretty damn good tutor. He spoke about chemical reactions and bonds and parts and formulas like he'd been studying it his entire life, eventually moving to sit next to Mako on the floor.

There was a knock on the door. “Enter if you dare!” Jamie yelled.

The door opened a little and another woman with a face that would have been severe if not for her smile peered into the room. “Dinner will be ready soon. This is Mako?”

Jamie stood, Mako following suit with a grunt. “Yep. Mako, this is my ma, as opposed to my mum.”

Mako rolled his eyes and blew on Jamie's face, earning a little giggle, before nodding. “Nice to meet you.”

She reached into the room to shake his hand. “Cathleen. Nice to finally meet you, Mako.” She pulled back to take on a more stern expression, one he recognized all too well from his own mother. “Make sure you wash up before you come down.”

“'Kay, ma.” Cathleen disappeared and Jamie nudged Mako's shoulder, sliding his hand down to lock their fingers together and pull him along. “C'mon.”

Dinner with Jamie's parents was interesting. Through idle conversation he learned that Cathleen worked in tech support and Nia was a special effects makeup artist in the next city over. They both seemed genuinely supportive of Jamie's band – not in the fake, condescending 'oh wow, good for you' way, either.

They asked a few questions about him, too, which was strange. He answered awkwardly, mostly one-word answers which seemed to satisfy them.

After dinner, Mako was shocked to find they'd already covered most everything on the study guide, and it took barely half an hour to finish up what was left.

“Y'know, this is usually the part in the teen rom-coms where someone starts playin' music for their beau,” Jamie joked as he reclined back on his bed, picking random chords out on the music program on his laptop. “Then it gets 'em in the mood and they have a nice romp.”

“You wish.” Mako tossed a pair of dirty jeans at him, smiling at the cackle he got in return. “What time is it?”

“About –” Jamie turned his wrist to look at his watch. “8:30.”

Mako stood up again, rolling his neck and grunting as it cracked. “I should probably get home. Sorry to break up the plot.”

Jamie set his laptop aside and stood, arms outstretched. Mako moved in to hug him tightly. “Alright. See ya tomorrow, love.”

Mako kissed the side of his head, and Jamie giggled in a dreamy kind of way. It was adorable.

He pulled up to his house to see his mother standing on the lawn, back towards him as she faced the garage. He was about to call to her and ask what was wrong when he saw it. Rage boiled up in him as he got off his bike and moved to stand next to her, shrugging off her attempt to wrap an arm around his shoulder as his hands slowly clenched into fists.

Someone had spray-painted, in big black letters, 'BIG PIG TAKES RAT DICK' on the garage door.


	10. Chapter 10

“What the _fuck_ ,” Jamie growled.

The group gathering at Mako's table at lunch had gotten bigger. Jamie had joined them and brought Hana, Lucio, and his bassist with him – Mako learned that this was the infamous Amelie, a striking beauty of a girl with stunning bright eyes and a perpetual expression of disinterest. Definitely seemed the artist type.

Mako shrugged noncommittally.

“Did they do anything else?” Zarya asked, leaning forward on the table. She'd gotten her hair cut short again, returned to the bright pink she was famous around school for.

“No, just the graffiti. Washed off easy enough. Not exactly how I wanted my mom to find out, though.” That had been an awkward talk. She'd taken it well enough, considering how she'd found out, although with some confusion. After all, he'd literally _just_ been dating Zarya.

“I'll kick their teeth in.” Jamie's hand was clenched into a fist and his knee was bouncing under the table. He seemed more furious than Mako was; surprising, considering he was the one with the anger issues.

“Jamie -”

“It's fine.” Mako interrupted Lena quietly, reaching out across the table. Jamie didn't take his hand. “Probably just someone bored, decided I was an easy target.” He snorted. “Dumbasses.”

“I'm gonna find that prick, and when I do -”

“Jamie,” Lena said sharply. “An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.”

Jamie scoffed in disgust, sinking back into his chair. “Ugh. You've been hangin' with that Zenyatta weirdo too much.”

“It's fine, Jamie,” Mako said, frowning slightly at how personally he was taking this. “Everyone'll forget by tomorrow. They always do.”

But still, there were the few people yelling and sniggering at Jamie, asking how he could walk after taking the human wrecking ball. Mako found himself having to restrain Jamie (physically, at one point) from going after them rather than being angry himself, a strange reversal of roles.

It took him until he'd gotten home and talked about it with Hana over Skype that he realized why. “This is Charlie all over again for you, isn't it?” he asked over the phone, reclining in his bed. "The drama."

There was a long pause and some rustling before Jamie replied with a heavy sigh. “No. It's Charlie for _you_. _You're_ the one getting' all the scrutiny 'cause of me.”

“We're both pretty high-profile,” Mako reminded him, picking at his nails. “You're not the one that sent a guy to the hospital a few months ago.”

Jamie laughed, a little hesitantly at first but eventually blooming into his signature giggle. It made Mako feel a little better, hearing that. “It'll be fine, Jamie. Y'know how it is, they'll be talking about something else tomorrow.”

“Yeah. I probably just need t' get high as a kite and work out some new tunes. Wanna hang?”

“Nah. Just don't send me dick pics, okay?”

“That's only when I'm drunk, love.” Mako rolled his eyes and chuckled.

Sure enough, the garage door incident had blown over as quickly as it had happened. There were still the occasional joke tossed Jamie's way, but Mako just gripped his hand tighter and pulled him away, and soon it faded into obscurity.

It felt as though Mako had merely blinked and spring was upon them. And with spring came final exams. Jamie was draping himself across Mako's lap with a dramatic sigh and an arm draped over his eyes as books sat scattered around them. “This is torture.”

“One more year,” he gently reminded him, running a hand through Jamie's hair and scratching his scalp.

Jamie purred quietly, eyes drifting shut . Mako had learned early on that scalp massages were his Achilles' heel. “I'm thinkin' of workin' an MCR and Marina mash-up I heard on YouTube into the end-of-the-year bash.”

“That... sounds like it'll be interesting.” He hummed quietly in thought, smoothing his hand over Jamie's hair.

“Otherwise – I dunno. Feels like everythin' else has been played to death.” Jamie wriggled in his lap, burying his face into Mako's stomach. “Don't be a musician, love. It'll kill ya.”

“I'm gonna leave that to you, Jamie. Think I've done as much studying as I can handle.” He tossed his books aside and flopped down. Jamie immediately moved up to rest his head on Mako's chest, and Mako wrapped his arm around him. “This is starting to become a routine,” he mused.

Jamie giggled. “One routine I actually don't mind. And y'know how much I hate routine. Look at what you're doin' to me, mate. Feel like I gotta rob a bank now to get me punk card back.”

“What is it with you and robbing banks?”

“I like the danger.” Jamie dug his fingers into Mako's chest. “I'm a bad influence, Mako. I ain't no good.”

Mako lovingly thwacked him upside the head, smiling at the giggles he got in return.

The end of the semester was a whirl of prom talk from the upperclassmen and all-night study sessions, but finally, summer was among them.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Man, for being two irresponsible teenagers, Jamie and Mako's parents sure do trust them. There's some religion discussion, Jamie's brain weasels, and those damn hormones wreaking havoc in this one.

He woke up one morning to a mysterious and admittedly ominous text: ' _look out ur window :)._ '

Jamie was standing on the curb outside, waving at Mako's bedroom window with a giant grin. “That wasn't serial killer-like at all,” Mako said once he got his window open.

“Shut up. Wanna run away?”

Mako blinked, staring at Jamie for a long moment. He stayed there, arms spread wide and inviting with an eyebrow waggle. He sighed and held up a finger to toss on a shirt and head downstairs.

“What?”

“Run away with me. _Anytime you want_ ,” he sang the end bit, but in a way that Mako couldn't really take it seriously. “Just for, like, a day or two. Head to the city, dick around, get a hotel.”

Mako furrowed his brows. “I'd have to ask my mom.”

“Already did. She's cool with it. So are my folks.”

“You're sneaky, Jamie.”

Jamie shoved Mako's shoulder. “C'mon. A little summer getaway. You, me, and Ataahua. Well, a few other folks might come on down, state fair's here.”

Mako shoved his hands in his pockets, weighing his options. Really, what was there to lose except a bunch of pocket change and allowance? “Did you wanna go... now? I've gotta work until 8 tonight.” He'd gotten a summer job at the local mechanic stop as a way to keep himself busy during the long summer days.

“Nah, whenever you're ready.” Jamie paused, scratching his chin. “Well, as long as 'whenever' is 'soon'.”

“Boss writes the schedule today, I'll see if I can get next week off.” Jamie's face lit up and he threw his arms around Mako's neck and kissed him.

It took a lot of palm-greasing, but Mako managed to convince his boss to give him the majority of the next week off. And as soon as Sunday came, he and Jamie loaded up their bags, climbed on Ataahua (Jamie took a selfie for posterity and loaded it with stickers before uploading it, just like Mako liked), and started to drive.

It was only a few hours to the city, but Mako made sure they stopped at every gas station and pit stop, both because Jamie had a notoriously small bladder and also to take plenty of pictures. By the time they got to the city, Jamie had taken enough selfies to fill up an entire album on Facebook. Mako chuckled to himself, sharing one of the photos to his own feed while Jamie made the hotel arrangements.

“How the hell did you afford this place, Jamie?” Mako was gaping at the room they'd be staying in for the next two days. It was big, with a couch and kitchenette and wide-screen TV.

Jamie raced towards the bed, taking a running leap to face-plant into the sheets with a giggle. The bed barely even creaked at the impact. He rolled over to lounge on it, legs kicking in the air. “Me birth parents were loaded. Contingency fund – I'm supposed to use it for college but what's a few hundred, right?”

Mako dropped his bag at the front door, still taking in everything about the room. “Your birth parents?” he asked idly, feeling the leaves of a plant on the table. They were real.

“Yeah. Dunno much about them 'cept they were rich. Left me everythin' when they carked it.” Jamie had taken out his phone, tapping the screen idly. “We've got a kitchen. Should we go grab some food quick or settle in?”

“We're in a big hotel in a big city,” Mako said after a moment. “You know we're just going to order out.”

Jamie giggled. “Aw, babe, you really get me. So!” He rolled himself forward to sit up. “Wanna be tourists?”

They wandered the city on foot for a good few hours, mostly trolling around in shops and not buying anything. It was like being on a right, proper date, which - “You know we haven't actually been on a date yet?” Mako asked in sudden realization in some kind of surf gear store.

“Pshh,” Jamie said, looking over his shoulder. He'd been trying on a ridiculous sunhat, making him look like the epitome of a tourist. “Sure we have.”

“Ice cream, maybe, but otherwise...”

“What, you wanna go on a date, Mako? 'Cause we can do that.”

Mako's breathing went funny just for a second and he nodded. “Yeah, I'd... kinda like that, actually.”

They disregarded the fair that night in exchange for a middle-class pizza place, far too overpriced. Jamie didn't mind, so Mako pushed down the uneasiness of being somewhere that required menus and waiting times and had a cocktail menu for his sake.

They talked about inconsequential things – nothing that they didn't talk to each other every day about. Mako quickly realized that when you talked to someone every day, conversation topics during a date narrowed substantially. Eventually, the topic turned back to Jamie's foster parents.

“They seriously let you come out here alone?”

“One, I'm not alone.” Jamie reached out to nudge Mako's hand. “Two, yeah. They trust me to do pretty much anythin', so long's I go to church.”

“You're kidding.”

“Nah. They figure any trouble I might get into, I can always repent or whatever. Unless I start doing heroin or something.”

“You actually buy into that?”

Jamie shrugged. “Gotta be somethin' up there, right? Some kinda disappointed parent shakin' their head at us.”

Mako took a bite of his pizza and looked at Jamie thoughtfully. “Never took you as religious.”

“Not really. It's... somethin'.” Jamie looked around, then back at Mako. “Ready to bolt?”

“Yeah. Let's box up the rest, see what's on TV.”

A dilemma quickly approached, as nothing on TV was appealing enough to catch their attention for more than five minutes. Plus, Jamie's fingers kept wandering, no matter how much Mako swatted his hand away.

“Stop it,” he finally said out loud after the third time.

“Sorry,” Jamie giggled, but eventually he sat up and rubbed the back of his neck. “I, uh. Sorry.”

“You okay?” Mako watched him with a frown. Now he seemed a little embarrassed, and Jamie was the kind of person who never got embarrassed about anything he did.

“I –” Jamie sighed, looking towards the open window that looked down on the city. “Y'know I got brain weasels, yeah? Sometimes they decide that 'hey, you should, like, want sex! All of the time!'. Most times I don't even know I'm doin' it until...” He gestured to Mako's hands. Mako reached out to run his fingers through Jamie's hair, and he melted into the touch, leaning back against him with a sigh. “Plus you just make it so easy,” Jamie continued after a long moment. His voice was quieter now. “Like...”

“Yeah,” Mako said in the silence that followed.

“S'it too early to bring up the 'l' word? 'Cause – I mean, Lucio always says I feel too much, I put in too much without knowin' if I'll get any payback, but –“

Mako turned his head to kiss him. Jamie lagged a little bit, still mumbling against his lips before stopping and finally kissing back. He remembered that night in the underpass and grumbled quietly.

They pulled away, and Jamie twisted around to lean into him and kiss him again, deeper, mumbling and giggling at some joke he'd tried to make in the midst of their connection before parting his lips to prod his tongue forward. Mako hesitated before opening his mouth to let it in, meeting it with his own, and he could feel his heart soaring in his chest.

They pulled away, both slow and hesitant. Jamie had freckles; Mako had noticed this before, but they were somehow more prominent right now, little dots flecked across his cheeks and nose. “Huh,” he said breathlessly.

“What?”

“That's the first time I've made out with someone and been able to stop. Not to say I wouldn't keep on goin' with you,” he added hastily, covering his mouth with a hand. “Mako, mate, you – somethin' about you.”

Mako smiled and pulled Jamie close, picking up the remote again to flip through the channels. He settled on some kind of drama cop show. Jamie didn't argue; he was starting to drift off, cradled in the warmth of Mako's arm and body.

Just before he went still, he muttered into Mako's chest. “Y' feel like home.”

Those words stayed in his head even as sleep started to claim him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Psst. Just wanna also mention that I take writing commissions!
> 
> $5 USD per every 500 words. Just PM [my Tumblr](http://apathetic-theme-song.tumblr.com/) if you're interested and maybe we can hash something out! <3


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, I can hardly keep mentioning Charlie without introducing her, can I?

They did some more touring the next day. There was an aquarium where they ogled the sharks; Jamie clung to Mako's arm and hissed something about devilry during the deep sea exhibit. And that night, they finally made their way to the fair.

Jamie's first priority was to get cotton candy. “It's like eatin' a cloud,” he said with childlike wonder once it was in his hand.

Amelie met up with them for a bit, and as she and Jamie caught up on her latest art project, Mako noticed someone skating towards them, turning with a flair to lean an elbow against their table. “Hey guys,” Lucio said cheerfully. “Fancy meetin' you here.”

“Hey, Luci!” Jamie raised his arm and they fist-bumped. “What's goin' on?”

“Not much, just heading to the dock to get set up. I'm gonna be DJ-ing for a bit in about half an hour.”

“Oh, ya got a gig? Nice!” Jamie looked back, taking in the crowds around them. “Man, I should've tried to book us here.”

“You would've had to put in the request last year, this place is crazy with that kind of stuff.” Lucio pushed himself back up, balancing on his skates. “You guys should come on down. Free glowsticks!”

“Ooh.” Mako rolled his eyes; Jamie was so easily fascinated with glowing and shiny and exploding things. “We'll try'n make our way down!”

Lucio shot them double pistols and a wink before skating back off into the crowd.

“Well, I should probably try and find Gabriel,” Amelie said, rising to stand with a strange kind of grace that made Mako uneasy. “He's probably degraded to throwing the actual water pistol at the targets by now instead of aiming.”

“Boy needs to relax. Take a nice herbal bath. Smoke some weed or somethin'.”

“Not all of life's problems can be solved with weed, Jamie,” Mako said, taking on an affected stern mother's tone of voice, which cracked Jamie up.

They made their way down the pier some more, following the thrum and bass of electronica until they were at Lucio's DJ party. Jamie jumped right in, dragging Mako behind him. It was an overwhelming blur of glowsticks and music and Jamie's hands on him in a way that he didn't have to scold him for for once, but he found himself enjoying it regardless.

But the crowds started to die out and they wandered back up the pier, hand in hand. “Look, we've got another rom-com cliché,” Jamie said, gesturing to the dwindling line at the Ferris wheel. “Stops at the top, instrumental swell.”

“Why do you know so much about rom-com clichés?” Mako asked, looking sideways at his boyfriend.

“Guy's gotta have hobbies.” They started to walk towards it before Jamie slowed to a stop, pulling Mako with him. “Ho... ly... SHIT! CHARLIE!” He raced forward, leaving Mako confused and watching as he collided into someone, arms wrapping tight around them.

“Oh my god!” The girl Jamie had just randomly assaulted was cute, with pin-straight platinum blonde hair and a face that hadn't completely lost all of its body fat. She opened her arms to catch him, and they spun around on impact. “Jamie!”

It took him a minute to realize it was _the_ Charlie. Jamie's ex.

She was just a few inches shorter than Jamie, gold face paint accentuating her tan skin and dark brown eyes. A crown of flowers sat on top of her head. He approached, hands in his pockets, as they held arms and talked over each other excitedly.

“Holy shit, doll -”

“This is so weird!”

“What a fuckin' surprise!”

They hugged again, giggling together in a way that made Mako feel a little awkward. Uneasy. Jamie finally pulled away and held out a hand towards Mako, turning. “Charlie, this is my new boo, Mako.”

Charlie reached forward with a bright smile. “Hi, Mako. Hope you're having better luck putting up with him than I did, he's a handful.”

Mako slipped his hand free of his hoodie to shake her hand. “Nice to meet you,” he said politely.

Jamie wrapped an arm around her shoulders and squeezed her close. “What're you doin' back in this neck of the woods, doll?”

“My uncle just got married, so we're in town for a bit.” Charlie glanced at him, lips parted in a smile that refused to fade. It seemed contagious, and Mako couldn't help but relax despite the weird feelings. “Figured we'd come to the fair while it's around.”

“Yeah. Mako'n I are on a dramatic teenage run-away.” Jamie shot him a wink.

“Has he asked you to rob a bank with him yet? The whole 'Bonnie and Clyde' shtick?” Charlie looked at Mako, raising an eyebrow coyly.

“Only about twenty times.”

Jamie scoffed, touching his chest like he was offended. “You're breakin' my heart, Mako. I'm tryin' to be romantic.”

“They _died_ ,” Mako and Charlie said at the same time. They glanced at each other, and Charlie started giggling furiously, covering her mouth with a hand. She screamed as Jamie took the initiative to start tickling her ribs. “Jamie! Jamie, stop it! Help me!”

“No one can save you now!” Jamie crowed, continuing his assault. Mako's stomach churned a little bit, and he stepped in to pull Jamie back – partly to save Charlie from his torment, and partly so he wouldn't have to watch anymore. “Hey!”

Charlie wormed away and smacked his arm with a laugh. “Jerk!” She glanced over her shoulder, straightening up to look at someone waving at her. “Oh – that's my mom. Looks like we're bugging out.”

“Aw, man,” Jamie said, still held back by Mako and as limp and relaxed as a rag doll. He started wriggling, and Mako reluctantly let him go. “Well, shit, it was great seein' you again. You look great.”

“Thanks.” She paused, tucking her hair behind her ear and raising her shoulders excitedly. “I got approved for my surgery. We're looking at early August.”

Jamie gaped, and opened his arms to hug her tightly again. “Holy shit, Charlie. That's amazing.” He leaned back to gesture towards Mako, beckoning him in. “- by the by, Charlie, you gotta hug Mako, it's amazing. Like having a giant, warm teddy bear.”

Mako hesitated, then obliged, wrapping both of them in his arms. “Oh my god you're right,” Charlie giggled, pressing her face into his chest for a moment. “Well, I hope you guys enjoy the rest of the faire,” she said as she pulled away, taking both Jamie's and Mako's hands in hers. “It was so great to see you again, Jamie. Lovely to meet you, Mako.”

“Wa-wait, gimme your number,” Jamie said, pulling out his phone. “We gotta catch up, doll.” Charlie nodded, eyebrows furrowing at they exchanged numbers.

“Congratulations,” Mako told her sincerely as she slipped her phone back into the pocket of her cardigan. She gave them one last smile, turned, and left. “Wow,” he said as they watched her go.

“Right?” Jamie sighed, interlocking his fingers behind his head. “She's a treasure.”

Mako frowned and grabbed his wrist, pulling him towards the Ferris wheel. “Whoa, what's up?” Jamie asked as Mako bought two tickets. He remained silent as he pulled Jamie onto one of the seats, and Jamie stared at him with realization dawning in his eyes. “Mako – shit, you're jealous, aren't you?”

Mako grunted as he sat down, and Jamie immediately scooted as close to him as he could, resting his head on his shoulder.

“Mate, s'fine, I get it.” Jamie's fingers danced on his knee in thought, digging in slightly as the car jerked upwards. “I haven't seen 'er in years. But she ain't the one sleepin' in the same bed as me tonight.”

Mako's fingers were curled on the safety bar in front of him, and slowly started to relax. Jamie leaned up to kiss him, nice and slow, and any negativity slowly melted out of him. “Sorry,” he muttered when they parted for air.

“I'd be jealous, too.” Jamie kissed him again before pulling back, resting his head against his shoulder as they stopped near the top of the wheel to let on some more passengers. “She's great. So're you.”

Mako wrapped his arm around Jamie's waist as they started to move again. The cool air swept off of the ocean and hit his face with the mild scent of salt. It was serene, and he exhaled slowly out of his mouth.

It was the longest that Jamie had ever been quiet – aside from when he slept.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I may have written a Thing taking place between this chapter and the next that I'm not willing to change the rating of this fic for. Keep an eye out ;)


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I may have mentioned this before, but updates from here on out are gonna be a little slower. Bear with me, folks!

Mako woke up to Jamie hitting him in the face with a pillow. “Rise and shine!” he sang with a grin that quickly faded as Mako hit him back a little too hard, sending him falling sideways with an 'oof'.

Mako crawled over to look over the edge of the bed. Jamie was on the floor, limbs splayed as he clutched his pillow to his side with his good arm. He ventured to take a real look; he hadn't really paid too much attention when Jamie had taken off his prosthetics the night before.

His leg was gone from above the knee, and his arm from just below his elbow. The ends of his limbs were smooth, cut cleanly; he wasn't sure why he expected anything else. Jamie was panting, looking up at him, with his eyebrows crinkled just enough to show a hint of discomfort at the way Mako was looking at him. “Help me up?” He held out his good arm, and Mako took it to help pull him up.

Jamie grunted as he wormed his way up to a sitting position, then a kneel, crossing his arms on the bed and resting his chin on it. “So we didn't play nearly as many boardwalk games as we should've last night,” he said casually, as though they hadn't been on the brink of nuclear pillow war a few seconds ago. “One more day in the city?”

“Sure,” Mako said, running his hand through his hair. “Might as well try and see the fair during the day before we head out. When's our check-out?”

“Two, I think? So we'd better hurry. Where'd I leave me leg?”

“Bathroom.”

“Right.”

It was already ten by the time they got ready and left their room. Jamie casually pulled Mako close and slid his hand in the back pocket of his shorts, rambling on like usual. Mako wrapped his arm around Jamie's shoulder and smiled.

The first game they approached was a water pistol aiming game, and Jamie peered at the prizes for a moment before pumping a fist. “Yes! They still got it.” He glanced back at Mako and shot him a grin. “If you wanna go do somethin' else, I'll catch up to ya.”

“Alright. Don't spend all your money here.”

“That'd take too long.”

Mako wandered the boardwalk for a while, buying himself some fair-brand, deep-fried food – a guilty pleasure. He convinced himself he might as well splurge while in the city.

“Mako!” Lena was waving at him from a side table, and he waved back before approaching, worming his way through the crowd. “What're you doing here?”

“Jamie kidnapped me, he's holding me for ransom.” Mako slid into the seat across from her as she laughed. “Nah. Weekend getaway.”

“His idea, I take it?” Lena took a sip of what looked like lemonade. “Seems rather romantic of him.”

“He can be,” Mako said, drumming his fingers on the table. “Are you here alone?”

“No, uh -”

“ _Bublik_ ,” Zarya greeted from behind him, bending down to wrap her arm around his throat in a hug. The sound made him jump out of instinct, but he grabbed her arm and squeezed gently in a show of affection. “Nice to see you.”

“Hey, Zarya,” Mako said, glancing over as she sat next to him. She was wearing a rather tight tanktop that proclaimed 'Sun's out, guns out' and a pair of shorts. It made his mouth a little dry.

“Here with Jamie?”

“Yeah.”

“Mako, there you are!” Jamie pushed through the crowd until he was at the table, panting from the heat and exertion but still maintaining a giant smile. “Say hello to Mister Snortimer Pigglesworth the Third!” He proudly held up... a tiny pig key plushie, barely the size of Mako's fist.

Lena covered her mouth with a hand to hide her smile as Mako's eyes widened. He slowly reached out to it, and Jamie let him take it, putting his hands on his hips with a grin. “You got this for me?”

“Yep. Figured I gotta treat my boo – in more ways that one,” he added in a low tone muttered to Mako with a wink. Mako swatted him on the arm, more out of instinct than shame, and looked deep into the little bead eyes of Mister Snortimer.

“I love it.”

Zarya leaned into Mako's shoulder to look with a smirk. “It is rather cute,” she agreed.

“That's all I wanted to do today. Anything else you wanna do?”

Mako dug out his keys to attach Mister Snortimer to the ring holding them together and shrugged. “I'm fine just walking around until check out.”

“Check out? You guy got a hotel?” Lena raised her eyebrows. “Rates are ridiculous because of all that's going on right now!”

“Love finds a way,” Jamie said loftily, raising his head to catch the breeze in his hair. Unfortunately, the breeze was going somewhere to the left of him instead. Zarya rolled her eyes at Mako.

To pay him back, Mako bought Jamie ice cream and a ride on the Zipper, and his kindness was returned by having to gently rub Jamie's back as he dry-heaved into a garbage can. “I'm alright,” he wheezed.

Finally, however, they had to go back to the hotel and check out. Jamie sighed as he looked upon it one last time, squeezing Mako's wrist. “This is the special room. Everyone's got one or two, y'know? Think this's ours.”

Mako ruffled his hair, much to Jamie's dismay and whining. “Stop getting weird on me.”

The ride home was a lot less exciting and a little more wistful. Jamie's hands interlocked across Mako's chest; Mako was pretty sure he'd fallen asleep at some point during the ride when they passed a few places they'd stopped at before.

“I don't wanna go home yet,” Jamie said as they pulled up to his house, tightening his grip in protest.

“What do you wanna do, then?”

“Take a nap. With you, specifically.”

“We can do that in there,” Mako pointed out, turning the ignition. “Besides, I'm pretty sure pulling up here and driving away would look weird.”

“'M already weird, mate.” Jamie sighed and let go, climbing off the bike and shoving his hand in his pockets. “Fine. Go in, check in, and then up to my room for some quality napping.”

Mako swung his leg over the bike and stretched, groaning as his back popped. “Fair enough.”

“We're home, we're goin' up to my room,” Jamie yelled in one breath the second he stepped foot across the threshold of his front door, urgently pulling Mako up the stairs to his room faster than he could keep up.

One of Jamie's mom's yelled something in return but he couldn't quite make out what it was or who had said it. Jamie wasted no time in closing the door behind him and locking it before starting to strip.

“Whoa -” Mako raised his hands.

“Oh, relax. I don't wanna sleep in this.” He pulled his jeans off in a smooth motion before grabbing Mako again and pulling him towards, and then onto, his bed, immediately curling into his side.

Mako snorted, wrapping his arm around Jamie's shoulders once he was situated. “So I'm just a living pillow to you?”

“Damn right,” Jamie said wearily, pressing his fingers against Mako's shirt.

“Can I at least get undressed too?”

Jamie begrudgingly let go so Mako could undo his belt, just to get more comfortable. He pulled off his pants and tossed them aside before sinking back down into the bed with a sigh. Jamie fell asleep in record time, and Mako quickly followed.


	14. Chapter 14

Mako ran out of medication the second week of school. Not out of neglect or anything; it was just that, between groceries and school supplies, money was running tight again.

The first thing he noticed was how irritating everything quickly became. He didn't have classes with any of his friends – strike one. He had to go from school immediately to work at the mechanic shop – strike two.

That would have been fine if Jamie hadn't stopped coming to school without a single word. Strike three.

No one else noticed; he'd been present for his band to play at the beginning-of-the-year assembly, but after that, he was gone. No one had seemed too concerned, either, which pissed him off. Strike four – one too many.

A week passed, full of homework and work after classes, but the minute he finally knew that he had the afternoon to himself, he hopped on his bike without any hesitation and went to Jamie's house.

Nia opened the door, smiling at him – a little uneasily, perhaps, given the tension present throughout his entire body. “Mako! Did you get my message?”

“What message?”

“I left a message with your mom this morning. Jamie's sick, and Cathy and I have to leave for a business trip. I was wondering if you wouldn't mind bringing him his homework and checking up on him while we were gone.”

He relaxed slightly. “Is he alright?”

“Yeah, he just caught a bug.”

“Can I see him?”

Nia nodded and opened the door wider to let him in.

Jamie was curled up on his bed underneath a pile of blankets. Mako opened the door slowly, earning a groan from the pile. “Jamie?”

He had to take a moment to wrestle free of the blankets, looking blearily at Mako for a moment before groaning again and flopping back down on the bed. “Hey, love. You're not supposed to be here.”

Mako closed the door behind him and sat down on Jamie's bed. “You didn't text me.”

“Sorry. S'hard to look at a screen. Me head's killin' me.” Jamie slowly worked his way up to a sitting position, smiling guiltily at Mako. “You alright? Y'seem tense.”

Mako sighed, looking away and shaking his head. “I was just... worried. You _never_ leave me in the dark like that.”

Jamie reached out to squeeze his arm. “Well, you're all illuminated now, right?”

Mako grunted. “Your mom – uh. Your mum asked me to come in an check on you. Bring you your homework.” His mood started to elevate at the groan Jamie gave him, a long and dramatically drawn-out noise as he re-buried himself under blankets.

“You had to use the 'h' word. Can't we just put it all in a pile in the back and light it up?”

“That would be pretty fun,” Mako admitted.

“Okay, you _never_ agree to potentially law-breakin' activities. What's goin' on?” He sat back up when Mako remained silent, lips pursed in a pout. “Talk to me, boo.”

“It's fine,” he snapped instinctively. He regretted it immediately, as Jamie leaned back slightly at the sound. He was just about to apologize when Jamie tossed the blankets aside, crawled forward, and put his hands on Mako's cheeks, holding him there for a second. “I... ran out of meds. It's fucking with me harder than I thought it would.”

Jamie pat his face lightly, resting his chin on Mako's shoulder. “Shit, love. Sorry.” He paused for a long moment before re-adjusting with a smile and saying, Want me to shell out for 'em?”

“I couldn't -”

“Sure ya could. S'the least I can do.”

“I don't take handouts.”

“Yeah, well, I'd rather you not get suspended for punchin' a freshman's face in again.” Jamie leaned back, laying down and reaching behind him to fluff up his pillows. “I don't take handouts, either. But sometimes ya gotta help each other out, y'know? S'what we do.”

Mako was quiet, shifting closer before deciding to take the plunge, falling onto his side and draping himself across Jamie's hips. “...Thanks.”

“Yuh-huh.” Jamie half-heartedly reached down to pat his head, jerking back as he sneezed. “Shit, this sucks. Fuck compromised immune systems.”

“Compromised -”

“From the, uh. Big C. My body never really caught back up to speed on that end.” Jamie sniffled, propping himself up on his elbows. “So yeah. Call up wherever you get your meds and have 'em call me for payment.”

“Jamie -” Mako started, stopping himself as Jamie pulled back, crawled forward, and took most of his shoulder into his mouth, growling as he dug his teeth in. “What, were you raised by wolves? Knock it off.” He swatted Jamie in the back of the head.

Jamie giggled, falling back again. “Dingoes, actually, you couldn't tell by the accent?”

“Explains the barking.”

He giggled some more, but it quickly faded off into a cough. Mako leaned up to take hold of his shoulder and keep him steady while the coughing fit wracked him. Jamie settled back with a groan, wheezing quietly. “Thanks.”

“Wanna get some rest? I'm gonna come back tomorrow.”

“Yeah. Think seein' your lovely face's helped, but a lil' rest is pretty good, too.” Jamie patted his hand and leaned back, sighing. “I'll count the minutes.”

Mako leaned up and kissed him on the forehead. It didn't take long for Jamie to fall asleep, so Mako stayed until he heard quiet snoring to get up and leave.


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ngl i kinda forgot about this for a bit, damn me and my multiple-story brainpain
> 
> this will probably be wrapping up soon, i just missed writing high school shenangians <3

Sure enough, a few days later when he came to check in on Jamie, Jamie was tugging on his boots and pulled him right back outside again. Mako stared at the shiny new bottle of medication as it sat in his hands, turning it over as he sat on the seat of his bike.

“I've been on and off my meds before,” Jamie said from behind him. “It's hell on the brain cells.”

“Great.”

Jamie squeezed his shoulders in a show of sympathy. “You'll get through it. _Allon-sy_!”

Mako took the scenic route back to Jamie's house, mostly to get some fresh air through both of their systems. He got Jamie set up in a blanket cocoon on the couch while he fixed a grilled cheese and some tea, just like his mom had made him when he was sick: with gobs of honey and milk and lemon.

Jamie wrinkled his nose at the tea. “I like it cold,” he grumbled before drinking it anyway. The grilled cheese took a full half-hour to get down.

Jamie eventually decided he’d had enough of his prosthetic arm and took it off. The next couple of hours, he drifted in and out of sleep, leaning against Mako while he idly flipped between channels. At some point he must have fallen asleep, too, because he woke up to Jamie's hand drifting across his chest, it was getting dark outside.

“Dinner?” Mako asked.

“Not quite what I had in mind but sure.”

He rolled his eyes and carefully moved up off the couch to scrounge up something light. He eventually settled on a Kraft dinner. Jamie shuffled into the kitchen to peer over Mako's shoulder and snorted quietly. “I'm the _king_ at makin' those. Lemme show ya somethin'.” He started rooting around in cupboards, pulling out salt, pepper, and some other spices and adding them into the pot.

Mako got himself a small amount in a bowl, letting Jamie take the rest, and took a tentative bite, grunting in pleasant surprise. “Huh.”

“Right? Tricks I learned in the foster system.” Jamie paused and nudged Mako's shoulder. “Do me a solid, grab my stash?”

“Should you be smoking now?”

“Probably not.” Jamie grinned up at him, then he sighed and shook his head. “Okay, fine.”

“Are you hurting?”

“A little bit.”

Mako pursed his lips, then nodded. “Okay. I’m not gonna let you go crazy though.”

“Ta, love.”

Why not? He was spending the night. He came back down with a lighter he’d grabbed from Jamie’s nightstand. Jamie had re-settled on the couch with a bowl of Kraft and blew Mako a kiss in exchange for the bag. “Want one?”

“Sure.” It was the weekend and his mom knew he was taking care of Jamie, so he threw caution to the wind. He couldn’t help but notice how badly Jamie’s hands shook as he rolled the joints.

“Between this and the cold meds I’m gonna be floatin’,” Jamie said idly, nuzzling into Mako’s side and reaching for the remote. “Just make sure I don’t go off streakin’ down the streak, okay?”

“Why not? It’d be funny.”

Jamie swatted him on the arm. They settled on watching Animal Planet while they smoked, some kind of documentary on the progression of cat domestication. Mako quickly fell into a warm, gooey kind of feeling between existing and obliviousness and it was kind of nice.

He snapped back to consciousness when Jamie pulled himself up and stage-whispered, “I’m really, _really_ horny right now.”

“Yeah?” Mako huffed at that. “Don’t wanna overextend yourself there.”

“We ain’t done it since the hotel. C’moooon. Plus do you really wanna stay up all night listenin’ to me jerk off?”

Mako looked at the clock on the TV guide. It was half-past ten already, and he thought for a moment before deciding he could go for it. Jamie’s expression suggested he was just about to reconsider his suggestion when Mako turned off the TV. “Yeah, okay. Just help clean this up.”

Jamie wriggled against him before tossing off his blankets and carrying their dishes to the kitchen while Mako put the blankets back and grabbed the ashtray to dump it out in the garbage. Once everything looked relatively clean, Mako had just enough time to switch off the lights before Jamie took his hand and pulled him up the stairs.


	16. Chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is still going. Ish.

Jamie felt well enough to come to school on Monday. Mako drove him there and stayed practically glued to his side, walking him to his locker, his classes, the cafeteria – everywhere. “I don’t need a bodyguard, mate,” Jamie complained mockingly, the façade ending with a giggle when Mako kissed the tip of his nose.

Classes were still frustrating. It was going to take some time for the medication to kick back in, so he just clenched his fists and beared it.

“Wow, and none of you fuckers got me a card,” Jamie said when he sat down at the table at lunch, tsking in disappointment at the group.

“You were gone?” A boy Mako didn’t recognize was at the end of the table, snorting derisively. He looked like trouble; tight black t-shirt, worn jeans, and a constant scowl of displeasure.

“Eat my cock, Gabby.” Jamie flipped him off, earning a giggle from Lena.

“I was gonna get you flowers,” she said sincerely, smiling at him. “Glad to have you back. S’been way too quiet without you.”

“Thanks, Lena.” Jamie started poking at this food, wrinkling his nose at the less than stellar quality of the prepackaged fish sticks in front of him. “So! 5 th of November. What’s goin’ on?”

“Marshall transferred to another school last week,” Hana said. “We need a new guitarist.”

“Dammit, Marshall.” Jamie shook his head, glancing up at ‘Gabby’. “Reyes, you play, right? Wanna be a social pariah? I mean, s’not gonna be hard, you’re already 5/8ths there.”

‘Gabby’ snorted, shaking his head. “Nice pitch. No thanks.”

“Well, fuck you too, then. Guess I'll have to ask Jesse.” Jamie beamed and, ignoring the withering glare the other boy gave him, looked up at Mako, who must’ve been showing his confusion. “Oh, shit - you’ve never met Gabriel, have ya? Gabriel, this is my beau, Mako.”

Gabriel just nodded toward him. “Hey.”

“Hey.”

“Good talk,” Hana said brightly after the solid ten seconds of silence that followed.

The rest of Mako’s classes were uneventful until he felt a quiet buzz in his pocket. Jamie had sent him a photo, and Mako opened it without a second thought. This was a mistake, as his face immediately went red at the blatant nude photo Jamie had taken in what looked like a school bathroom stall. Thankfully, no one seemed to notice.

“You can’t send me nudes in class,” he hissed quietly once he made his way to Jamie’s locker at the end of the day.

Jamie cackled, slamming his locker shut. “Just did.” He gently poked Mako on the nose with a grin.

“You’re gonna get in trouble.”

“You gonna give me detention?”

Mako immediately understood and looked both ways before leaning in and whispering with a threat of a promise, “Worse.”

It was Jamie’s turn to flush a little pink at that.

“What, you can dish it out, but you can’t take it?”

“I can take it!” Jamie protested, eyes widening as the multiple conversations around them dimmed slightly. A few people were giving Jamie some looks, mostly odd but some taken aback. ”...I said that too loud.”

“Little bit.” Mako took his hand and squeezed it with a chuckle. “Okay, gotta head to class. See ya.”

“See ya.”

His last few classes were boring compared to the lttle surprise he’d gotten earlier, but he made it through. Jamie had band practice that afternoon, so Mako took a detour to the gym - he had some time before work.

Lena was there, talking as Mako entered the room. “And she’s got the cutest freckles - oh.” She turned as the door opened, her ears flushing pink. “Hi, Mako.”

“What’s goin’ on?”

“Lena’s got a crush,” Hana teased as she finished setting up her drum kit, taking a seat behind it.

“I do not!” Lena protested, crossing her arms over her chest and huffing.

“Oh, so you were just checkin’ out her freckles because you were bored?” Jamie snickered, swinging by to kiss Mako’s cheek.

Lena was silent, still trying her best to look angry, but eventually she gave up and laughed out loud, covering her mouth. Mako had never seen her blush so much before. “What’s her name?”

“Emily. We got partnered up for a project in Astronomy.” Lena cleared her throat as she settled down. 

“We have an Astronomy class?”

“I know, right?”

“Alright, let’s get started - mic check.” Jamie dropped his water bottle at his feet and cleared his throat. “My mic sounds nice, check one!”

“My mic sounds nice, check two!” Hana parroted.

“My mic sounds nice, check three,” Amelie followed.

“My mic sounds nice, check four.” An unfamiliar boy with messy brown hair and piercing eyes said - this must have been the Jesse that Jamie had mentioned earlier.

“My mic sounds nice, check five!” Lucio said.

“My mic sounds nice, check six!” Lena yelled despite the fact she had no mic to check.

“Our mics sound nice! Check seven!” The entire band sang in terrible harmony before Jamie burst into laughter and the band started into a song Mako didn’t recognize. Probably a new addition to the roster.

Mako waved to Jamie as he left mid-song; as much as he hated being That Guy, work wouldn’t wait for him to watch his boyfriend scream at a wall.

When he got home, he passed out on the couch. Work had been exhausting, and the homework he still had to do was too much to even contemplate starting. Unfortunately, his mother knew where his priorities were supposed to be, and woke him up after about ten minutes so he could at least make an attempt at it.

“How’s, uh... what’s his name - Jamie?” she asked as he started packing everything up.

He tensed. “Good.”

“It was interesting that his mother trusted you to watch him when he was sick.”

“They probably just wanted to get away, he’s a handful.”

His mother watched him for a moment and sighed. “I suppose I’m just a little confused, Mako.”

He stopped for a moment, contemplating the look on her face - it wasn’t hostile, per se, but genuinely curious. So he sat back down at the table. “I know we didn’t talk about it much.”

“You’d  _ just _ been dating that sweet girl.”

“Yeah, I know. I, uh...” He cleared his throat. These kind of talks were always like pulling teeth. “I actually liked Jamie before I dated Zarya, But I guess... I kind of wondered what dating her’d be like.”

His mother pursed her lips. “You’re happy, though?”

“Yeah.”

“He’s not going to get you into trouble, is he?”

He started to mention Jamie’s obsession with robbing banks, but thought better of it and shook his head instead. “No, Mom.”

“Alright. I’m sorry, Mako, I know how much you hate these talks.”

“No, I know.”

She stood and opened her arms, and he hugged her tightly, pressing his forehead to hers. “Now get some sleep.”

“Good night.” He counted his blessings before turning out the lights and going to sleep. After all, she could have taken this all  _ much _ worse.

There was an early release at school the next day, so the gang got together for celebratory ice cream - plus one.

“This is Emily,” Lena introduced as she took a seat, nodding to the girl approaching behind her. “I invited her - figured we might as well get some work done.”

Emily was the epitome of a ginger; long red hair and a dusting of freckles on her cheeks. Mako could see why Lena would be taken with her; she  _ was _ pretty cute. “Hi,” she said, waving as she took as seat next to Lena.

“Hey.” Jamie gave her a grin, which, in turn, earned a warning look from Lena. “The more the merrier! Welcome to the weirdo club.”

“Of which Jamie is the founder, president, and sole member,” Mako said.

Jamie turned to look at him with wounded puppy dog eyes. “Et tu, love?”

“You have that band, right?” Emily asked, resting her elbows on the table.

“Yeah. Been to any of our shows?”

“Couple of times. Punk’s not really high on my list of likes, though.”

“And watchin’ me didn’t help, I bet. What’d’ya want? I’ll buy for ya.”

Emily blinked with a sheepish laugh. “You don’t have to -“

“He will,” Lena said, rolling her eyes. “He’ll insist, too.”

Emily looked at her, then back at Jamie, lips pursed in thought. “Turtle sundae, small.”

Jamie snapped his fingers at her in acknowledgement and swung off the bench to the stand. Mako snorted derisively, leaning back with his arms crossed. “Asshole didn’t buy  _ me _ ice cream when we met.”

“He was too busy trying to give you his number,” Lena reminded him.

“Should’ve written it on the bowl.”

Jamie delivered the sundae directly to Emily with a flourishing bow, and Mako gently punched him in the shoulder when he sat back down.

Again, they all dispersed as time went on, and Mako drove Jamie home - or at least, he tried to. They spent a good five minutes making out on the curb before Mako managed to shove him off back home.


End file.
